Sanlin Sweet Pickled Melon

Sanlin Sweet Pickled Melon

　　There are three steps to making pickled melon. The first is making broad bean paste. Take five or six pounds of flour to make dough, mix in more than one pound of mashed cooked broad beans, stir well, and then steam the mixture in a steamer. Next, knead the steamed dough into fine bits, cut them into small cubes, place them in a shallow tray, cover them with wheat straw, and let them ferment. After about half a month, mold grows around the small dough cubes, turning them into yellow bean paste. Place the yellow bean paste in the sun to dry for one or two days, then put it into a brine-filled jar (use boiling water — for one pound of yellow bean paste, add three or four pounds of boiling water and two taels of salt), and leave the jar in the sun to ferment. After two or three days, mash the yellow bean paste by hand. In six or seven days, it will turn into broad bean paste. The second step is preparing the melon slices. Slice open raw melons, remove the seeds, trim the ends, wash them clean, and then pickle them in a jar. Leave them to pickle at night and dry in the sun during the day, mainly to remove some moisture. After two or three days, they become melon slices. Finally, soak the melon slices in the paste to pickle them. They’ll be ready to eat in four or five days. It’s best to pickle the melon during the height of summer (大伏天), as the resulting sweet pickled melon will be fragrant, sweet, crisp, and tender — perfect as a side dish for congee to whet the appetite.